No. 1406
Editorial Note
As an attachment to a letter signed on September 30, 1953, and mailed on October 1, the Under Secretary of State transmitted to the Secretary of Defense a memorandum, dated September 24, entitled “Political Considerations Bearing on U.S. Military Assistance Programs to the Middle East in Fiscal 1954.” The fifth section of the memorandum proposed principles for the United States to follow in coordinating possible military assistance to Iraq and Jordan with the British supply programs under way in those countries. In the letter, Smith informed Wilson that if the Department of Defense and the Foreign Operations Administration approved [Page 2371] the principles proposed in Section 5 of the memorandum, the Department of State planned to cummunicate them to the British through diplomatic channels. Copies of the letter and memorandum were transmitted to the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration as attachments to a letter, dated October 2, from the Acting Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Mutual Security Affairs. The letter to Stassen was mainly concerned with military aid to Egypt and informed him that a similar letter was being sent to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. (774.5 MSP/10–253)
After several discussions between Department of State officers and the British, on December 28 the British also presented a draft statement of principles on the same topic. Subsequent conversations between the Departments of State and Defense resulted in a revised draft tentative statement of principles which was transmitted to the British Embassy. No memoranda of conversation with the British have been found in Department of State files. The above information was taken from a memorandum by Byroade to the Deputy Under Secretary of State, dated January 5, 1954, and a letter by the Deputy Under Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense, dated January 11, asking for Defense comment on the final draft of the statement of principles. Documentation is in Department of State file 787.5 MSP/1–1154. For additional information, see footnote 1, infra .